Politics in Time
The Importance of Anxiety
Anxiety plays an important role in human life because it correlates with so many elements humans encounter on a regular basis. Anxiety is the uneasiness of the mind caused by either fear and/or misfortune. Anxiety is eagerness and existing in the state if apprehension. Anxiousness directly correlates with the concept of time and how the past, present and future is perceived. Fear, misfortune, judgment, and apprehension are all related closely to morality, responsibility and agency because each of those things are intertwined with direct actions, which over all affect the structure of society and defines the status quo. Irrational and rational decisions that people make based on their actions in the present and for the future experienced a stage of uneasiness and anxiety at one point. Anxiety exists among desires. In Thomas Hobbs’s essay, Leviathan, and Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments, they both touch on anxiety and its relation to the future, judgment and free will.
“Anxiety for the future time, disposeth men to inquire into the causes of things: because the knowledge of them, maketh men the better able to order the present to their best advantage“(Leviathan, Pt. I, Ch. 11, para. 24). Hobbes is describing the correlation between anxiousness, curiosity and the future. If there is something to anticipate and look forward to in the future, one might be anxious and curious about the series of events leading to that point. Hobbes describes this paragraph, as “Curiosity knows, from care of future time.” People are all curious about the future. Curiosity, whether pessimistic or optimistic, determines the perspective on the expectations of the future. However, Hobbes believed humans are engaged in guided thought. Guided thoughts stems from understanding that comes from reflection, memory and experience. Most experiences whether positive or negative, happiness or sadness can have an anxious element to it because it is the anticipation that causes the discomfort of the unknown. Anxiety exists when one anticipates success. It is the uneasiness in waiting and not fully knowing what the future beholds that is brought on by anxiety. In that, there is a lack of control. If one cannot determine what to expect in the future it would be difficult to control the actual present.
Hobbes discusses dependency and power in chapter ten of Leviathan, which relates to desires and anxiety. Specifically he talks about self-value and knowing your worth. “ The value of worth of a man, is as of all things his price; that is to say, so much as would be given for the use of this power: and therefore is not absolute; but a thing dependent on the need and judgment of another… And as in other things, so in men, not the seller, but the buyer determines the price” (Leviathan, Pt. I, Ch. 3, para. 16). It is assertion and differentiating between falsehoods regarding self that is caused and effected from anxiety.
Dependency in itself can cause anxiety. It is not a simple concept to know your worth and understand your own self-value based on the judgments of others. Acceptance is an intricate process that is required at a high level when dealing with the judgments of others. It is the element of fear of judgment and understanding self-value that causes the anxiety, the fear of unfavorable judgment, and the fear of being in a state of apprehension. Relying on someone else causes frustration and clearly takes away the grip on control. Depending on the judgmental opinions of others is essential to understanding self-value, yet dependence in itself limits agency as free will is fractured.
Adam Smith went more into detail about anxiety in the Theory of Moral Sentiments essay. “Among the candidates for excellence in those different arts, the anxiety about the public opinion is always much greater in the former than in the latter” (The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Ch 2, part 1, pg25). The significance does not lie in the actuality of the accomplishment; rather it is the judgment that brings about the anxiety. Excelling in something brings gratification, yet the conclusions drawn from the outside causes the uneasiness. To judge and to be judged through the eyes of peers and people other than self provokes anxiety. No one can escape judgment as people encounter it daily.
“In the misfortunes for which the nature of things admits, or seems to admit, of a remedy, but in which the means of applying that remedy are not within the reach of the sufferer, his vain and fruitless attempts to restore himself to his former situation, his continual anxiety for their success, his repeated disappointments upon their miscarriage, are what chiefly hinder him from resuming his natural tranquility…” (The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Ch 3, part 3, para 75). In life, people experience great accomplishments as well as disappointments and Smith is saying anxiety exists in both. There is not always going to be a solution to the problem, which naturally causes anxiety. However, it is the anxiety in success and its assessment that causes comparison and competition that affects agency and morality.
“When the happiness or misery of others, indeed, in no respect depends upon our conduct, when our interests are altogether separated and detached from theirs, so that there is neither connexion, nor competition between them, we do not always think it so necessary to restrain, either our natural and perhaps, improper anxiety about our own affairs, or our natural and, perhaps, equally improper indifference about those of men” (The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Pt, 3, ch 3, para 49). Anxiety can hinder one’s agency especially caused by competition and struggle with power. Power is such a dominant force that can cause one to question his actions based off competition. Power directly causes competition, but competition can adversely cause conflict as well as new ideas.
Anxiety manifests itself amongst many different emotions, actions, satisfactions and dissatisfactions. The ultimate goal is to attain happiness, although, it is curiosity and anxiety that exists in the pursuit. Anxiety exists in the future, as it is a continuous thing. People are actively investing in the present, preparing for the future through anxious actions like doubt, fear, uneasiness amongst many other feelings. Anxiousness starkly appears throughout the completion of something whether it was a task, duty or desire. Because anxiety affects the grasp, that people have on the control in their present lives and how one perceives themselves in the future. It affects overall confidence and how one conducts himself. As Hobbes describes, humans have continuous desires and the power to fulfill them. Anxiety is certainty. How does one really know if they are certain of anything? How does one fully know and understand something especially pertaining to self and their value to themselves and society? Anxiety is the unknown. The importance of anxiety is how it determines thoughts and actions. Generally, people are responsible for their actions. Anxiousness causes insecurity and doubtfulness that inevitably is a hindrance to our overall agency. Free will is compromised if there is a constant doubt in ability due to anxiety. However, one cannot recognize others without recognizing self. Anxiety is not necessarily a positive or a negative, rather it is essential to personal responsibility. It is duty that is related to action. Actions are determined by moral judgment and ethics which have all been affected directly or indirectly by conscious or subconscious anxiety. Happiness and failure cannot exists without anxiety because general morality, responsibility and agency are all intertwined with it.
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